Not Enough Chickens to Kill

“Our fundraiser for this weekend is not going to work.
We don’t have enough chickens to slaughter for the tamales.”

So wrapped the announcements at a service where I preached at a church in a suburb east of the city.

They needed 20 chickens to prepare the food for a bake sale.  They only had three.

They were trying to generate funds with micro business, but couldn’t find enough chickens.

They were going to use ground beef to make empanadas instead.

Tamales are delicious, more filling, and can sell for a whole lot more at a lower product cost.

But they had to settle for the pricier ground beef empanadas, cutting their profit margins really deep.

This was just one evidence of the visible poverty of where I preached in Mid-November.

God did good stuff, the word went forth with power, but I came home almost emotionally wrecked.

The apparent poverty made it an emotionally hard calling.

Pictured below are the front and rear of the one room church.

You can read more about it from “An Offering of Lemons.”

Where was I?

This area was just east of the city, a very densely packed suburb of single story dwellings (not the high rise density of the city).

• 63,000 residents
• 45 churches, most under 100 members.
• Suggests that less 10% have been reached for Christ.

About 30 minutes by crowded highway travel speeds, out near the airport. Many residents commute / from the city by public transportation.

A horrible head on bus crash (by a speed drunk driver in an illegal and loaded dump truck) in October killed over 25 commuters.

Pastor describes it as a red zone (very dangerous).

Some of his members called it a hot zone (almost very dangerous).

One or two were saying there is no problem, just pockets of activity.

The street corner from the church is supposedly a gun fighting point between three gangs fighting for control.

The stores that were open when we left had iron bars blocking the entrance– business was conducted passing goods and money through the iron bars.

Face to Face with Poverty

I’ve seen poverty as I’ve visited many places in Latin America.

I also know that it’s more prevalent in other countries like Nicaragua (where I’ve seen things I wish I hadn’t), Cuba, and Haiti.

But Thursday night was another real in-my-face encounter, not just images from a slide show on the internet.

It stays with you for days, and makes you wonder, what can you really do?

Training Pastors in Poor areas.

This pastor leads a pastors association in the town.

They want me to do an evangelism training for several of the pastors of the 45 churches working in this neighborhood.

They want Brenda to do a training event too.

They want to organize a campaign and a big event.

It’s pushing me to think about through church evangelism strategies in light of lack of resources:

• money,
• time,
• people.

I’ve always believed that effective evangelism will manifest the kingdom’s presence.

Here is what I’m noodling on: What would that look like in this very impoverished area?

How will I see what impact the training will make?

Supporting our work

Clearly, there is a lot of work to be done in this area.

Our partners enable us to bring evangelism training to this impoverished area.

Your ongoing support keeps us here to provide training for these pastors, even if there are not enough resources.

Would you consider helping us fulfill this calling?

First Time here?

Calling Forth Missionaries

On Mother’s Day Sunday, I was invited to preach at Centro Christiano de Filadelphia, a church in the Colon province.  I was given a translator for this event.

I’ve seen the church on several occasions driving back and forth (when we rent a car).  For a while, it didn’t have any walls – this year, it has finally enclosed the walls.

The sound system wasn’t working right, and the roar from torrential downpour slamming the steel roof presented some acoustical challenges.  Outhouses in the back served as the facilites.  The humidity level was 100, with very little breeze.  Though the church had some fans hanging on the walls to create a breeze, it wasn’t enough to prevent me from having to use a handkerchief several times.

No complaints, just describing some of the setting.

The people of this congregation were very friendly.  Ushers wore uniforms that set them apart from the crowd, creating a wonderful first impression.  They guided us to our seat, and introduced me to the pastor and her husband.

The song set was loud, and the words were not projected at this time.  As part of the church’s growth, I can see the setup where they will eventually have a data projector.  The screen was a tarp strung with shoelaces to a frame made out of electrical conduit.  Resourceful.

I was asked to preach on a missions calling.  I was joined by a team from IPET, a group of the students that I’ve been teaching in Colon.  They brought a drama, testimony and song as well.

Psalm 67:1-2 served as the foundational text:

“May God be gracious to us and bless us, and make his face shine upon us, that Your ways maybe known on earth, Your salvation among all the nations.”

God’s blessing is for a purpose == the proclamation of His name.

So often, as individual Christians, and as churches, we are so focused on seeking the Lord’s blessing, but we disconnect it from the purpose of blessing.

This was the leading for that Sunday.  About 150-200 people in attendance.

The call you see pictured are for those who wanted to receive the filling of the Holy Spirit to accomplish the work of being witnesses.  We had already spent some time in repentance for selfishly holding on to our blessings, and committing to the purpose of our blessings, the proclamation of God’s name.

In that moment, we also prayed for those who are discerning

• a call to global missions internationally, or
• a calling to be intercessors for missions.

Both are important work, and several people raised their hand to indicate a need for prayer in each category.

This work this Sunday was only a seed.  IPET will likely stay in touch with those sensing a call to missions to help nurture that calling and provide some of the training to fulfill it.

A word of Thanks

Thanks to all of you who are praying for us here and choosing to support or work in Latin America.  Moments like these are the fruit of your partnership with us here.

Teaching Events in May

The season of networking in Panama is producing fruit.  I’ve been doing some teaching and preaching in April and upcoming, here is the mix for May.

Schedule

May 9-10
Cross Cultural Missions Conference – Colón

May 18
IPET in Colón, Verbena Church – Evangelism

May 23
Celebration of Baptism

May 25
IPET in Colón – Worldview and Cross Cultural Missions

May 30/31
IPET in the Darién Province, Sermon on Sunday

Missions Congress

The Cross Cultural Missions Congress will be in the city of Colón, the place where the gospel had it’s beginnings in Panama and an area that has had a special blessing from God for spread of the gospel.

Immigrants from all over the world are have settled in Colón and many have risen to positions of influence and power.  There is a growing Muslim presence and economic influence in the city, and one of the best schools in the eyes of many in Colón is the privately funded Arab College.  Other people groups from India and China, as well as the West Indies and the Caribbean have settled there.

In the last four months, HIMF (Hermandad Iberoamericana de Misiones Fronterizas) has opened up four mission training schools in the province of Colón, with approximately 70 students in that province, made up of

• Pastors
• Cross Cultural Missionaries
• Teachers
• Support Workers

The missions academy is named “Panamanian Institute for Crosscultural Studies.“  The acronym in Spanish is IPET.   HIMF is a Latin American sending agency who’s goal is to raise up missionaries from Latin America to other parts of the world.

The missions Congress is geared towards casting a vision for international missions – both abroad and at home – and recruiting another 80 students to join its classes and grow in its missions calling.

Gathered around the theme of Acts 1:8, we desire to cast a vision

1. For Global Missions as seen in Scripture
2. Help the people of God fulfill the Great Commission in their calling
3. Awaken, guide, and give God’s people tools to reach into other cultures
4. Recruit future students for further training in cross cultural missions at home and abroad.

I will be sharing the teaching responsibilities with pastors from Guatemala, Costa Rica, Venezuela, and Panama.  On Sunday, I will be preaching in a local church, with one of the outreach teams from IPET, casting a vision for missions and for the Global day of Prayer (May 31).

My particular theme is on the “Reaching my City for Christ.”  I’ll be sharing some of the strategies I’ve learned while church planting in Richmond VA and here in the city of Panama.

Prayer

Here is how you can pray:

1. Safety in transportation.  A new highway has opened up.
2. Provision – we will rent a car for the weekend.  With fuel and food, our costs to participate will run about $150-$200.  Pray that provision will come.
3. Clear Communication
4. That people would grasp the vision for missions.

Teaching at OM Panama

By God’s sovereign plan, I had the privilege of teaching Evangelism classes at the Operation Mobilization base in Volcán, Panama.  Months before, some missionaries passing through Panama attended a workshop in May and they introduced me to the OM leadership.

Volcán is a little town in the province of Chiriqui, in western Panama.  I had to take the 6 hour red-eye bus ride from the city terminal to the town David, followed by a 90 minute bus ride up the mountain to Volcán.  I arrived about 8.30 in the morning on my first day of class at 9am, exhausted from the travel and sleepless night, but nonetheless ready to teach.

The base is located at the end of a road in a residential neighborhood at the foot of a dormant volcano, Baru (pictured below, center rear).

The terrain was mostly rocky, with giant boulders that had been left from lava flows eons ago.  Roads were sometimes paved, sometimes littered with potholes, and sometimes not paved at all.  A 4×4 would be a good car to have in Volcán

The town of Volcán is about 1500 meters in elevation (about 4900 feet).  The weather was a combination of clouds (we were in them some times), rain, and strong winds.  At times the wind was biting cold.  It often blows with such strength that tree saplings are bent over and grow at an angle.  I saw several trees that had a graceful curve to them.  The air is pretty cool year round that most houses don’t have either a heating or air conditioning system installed.

Teaching at the OM Panama Base

The missionaries at the school were from 5 different countries: Australia, Switzerland, France, Germany, and Panama.  After 10 days of training, they will go on a 2 month outreach, working with local churches in their evangelism programs.

This partnership was a key ingredient in my decision to help them.  I wanted to be sure that their outreach efforts were connected with the local church, so that any new believers could be connected.  I firmly believe that evangelism includes helping people connect to a local church, not just praying a prayer to receive Christ.

I had been asked to teach on two subjects, evangelism and team work.

I had four sections on evangelism:

• Motivation
• How the Holy Spirit Directs Evangelism
• Fear Free Evangelism
• Cross Cultural Evangelism.

For the two sections on teamwork, I focused a little on factors that make a great team member and did a group exercise looking into what gifts and personalities each person brings to the table.

The missionaries spent other classes looking into matters such as preaching, spiritual warfare, drama, and had time to develop and practice their mimes and dramas that would be used in their open air campaigns.

Open Air Campaign

I even had the chance to join them in one of their open air campaigns with a church in Volcán and at nearly the last minute, given the chance to interpret a drama for the crowd that had gathered.

The mime was called "Too Late."

The scenes are as follow:

Two mimes are partying, carrying on, enjoying the so called pleasures of this life.  A Christian witness comes in to tell them about Jesus and they reject him, saying they are having too much fun.

Scene shifts to the two mimes working very hard to earn a living.  A Christian witness comes in to tell them about Jesus and they reject him, saying they are too busy.

Scene shifts to the two mimes being elderly and barely able to move.  A Christian witness comes in to tell them about Jesus and they reject him, saying they are too old.

Scene ends with one of the mimes dying.  The "narrator" finishes the mime with a sign that says "Too late."

In our life, many times God will send us somebody who will tell us about Jesus but we find too many excuses to follow him.  God pursues us, but gives us liberty to reject it.  The characters in the mime rejected all of the occasions that God provided them to receive the Good News.  Likewise, each person in the crowd that day had the opportunity to hear of God’s love for them in Jesus Christ, and could choose to respond accordingly.

Today is the day of salvation, not knowing what tomorrow brings, and today was one opportunity where God gives you the offer of salvation.

Together with the other mimes and dramas, we presented the gospel message and invited folks who had freely gathered into further conversation.

For the team, it was good practice for their dramas and open air preaching.

We had a chance to debrief the experience a little and learn ways to improve the drama and improve the presentation for next time.  I was able to provide some coaching and guidance to the street preachers and translators based on the experiences that I have had in open air preaching.

Preaching at CCB

Last weekend I had the opportunity to preach at the church we attend, Centro Cristiano Bethania.

First Spanish sermon